• This is the second book of The Collected series •
"Those who bring pain are here to save, and those who bring hope will bring death. A great evil rests on the horizon, eating away at each setting sun. Nothing is as it seems while you beg for salva...
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Cate. That's what I was going by now. I was a new person, a new self. Cosmia was part of my past, an alien made from the broken pieces of a human. But I was healing now, I was free.
Or close to it.
Zillah's home world was just a new kind of prison. It's been five months of false freedom and I'm beginning to break under the unbearable pain of confinement.
Five months since our escape from the Collectors.
Five months since his death.
When Nicholas died about a quarter of all the aliens started to fight with us. Including the Norians, Spikes, Coldbeasts, the Ape Max saved, a snake-like creature that seemed angry about Nicholas's death and many others I didn't know.
But that's when everyone started to put the pieces together. All four of the 'chosen' humans had to die for all the aliens to come together and kill the Collectors. We had assumed if one of us died another human would show up in our place.
This was worse. Now we had other aliens in search for us, in hopes of killing us and ending the Collectors.
I sighed and gazed out into the horizon, where the ocean met the sky. It brought a small smile to my face. I missed the water and I had a perfect view from my balcony.
But I rarely got to go out. We weren't allowed out without a guard or two. For our safety, they said.
Max was the only one who went out regularly, Zillah had no problem with being his personal guard. I could see them now, going for their annual walk down the beach. Every. Single. Morning, I could see Zillah's red cape, a few shades darker than her skin. Max beside her in blue, always in blue. I think he's partial to it, as it was the colour he was wearing when the Collectors took him.
Why did I remember that?
"What are you doing? Moping out here?" The sound of Andrea's voice made me jump, almost falling off the balcony. I pulled my hair into a ponytail, I didn't like it down unless it was just me and the sea. "Oh, I see." She looked down at the beach. "You need to start listening to that thing in your chest. Despite what people say, I regret listening to my head all my life." Andrea's light mood dampened, and I knew who she was thinking about.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I huffed, sitting in my chair and curling my legs to my chest. But we've had this conversation too many times, this lie doesn't work on her anymore.
"Torryn and I are taking Estelle to get breakfast, the girl needs to get out of her room." Andrea looked at her feet, hiding the pain that Estelle isn't able to. "Come with us?"
"Fine." I stood up and walked back into my room.
"Well, you can't go in your pajamas." She chased after me, grabbing my wrist. "What if Max and Zillah decide to join us?"
